To the west of Sydney lies the World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains region. With its temperate climate, coupled with beautiful scenery, a trip to Sydney will not be complete without a visit to the Blue Mountains. The close proximity of the Blue Mountains to Sydney (about 1 hour plus drive away) makes it ideal for a day trip, however, due to the lack of time, we only managed to view 3 sites and would have probably need a few more days to experience the many scenic sites of the region.

We stopped by a town Leura in Blue Mountains for lunch. Instead of walking around town to look what slowly explore what other cafes had to offer, we were hungry and fully trusted the map (that we purchase from the Blue Mountains information stop) for its recommendation. We ended up having a simple sandwich lunch, french fries and nuggets (for K) for AUD$40, another one of many over-priced meals that we experienced during this trip.

We went on to visit the Three Sisters, a famous rock formation in Blue Mountains. A little less magnificent than I envisioned it to be, maybe the cliffs are slowly being slowly broken up by erosion and may one day be eroded away completely? Regardless, I still appreciate the wonders of nature with the view of the beautiful scenery.

Our last stop in the Blue Mountains was taking rides on the scenic skyway, cable car, railway and a short nature trail on the broadwalks of a rainforest.

We drove back to the city thereafter and met Uncle Nick for our dinner for our last night in Sydney. Was not feeling too adventurous after a couple of expensive and disappointing meals in Sydney. So we ended up having our dinner in the same Italian restaurant in Darling Harbour, that same one that we dined in the last 2 nights. The four of us shared 1kg of bbq ribs, steak, 2 pasta dishes and were fully satiated after the wonderful and reasonably-priced meal.

The weather turned a little chillier on our last few days in Sydney, as it started raining in the morning of Day 10. From the hot 28 – 30 degrees celsius that we experienced the last couple of days, the temperature went down to about a windy 20 degrees celsius.

Australian MuseumWe had to re-schedule our plans to visit Luna Park in the late morning and went instead to the Australian Museum. The wealth of exhibits encompassing natural history is really impressive, I like that there is an interactive area; Kids Space, specially for kids under 5s.

Luna Park

We headed over to Luna Park after lunch despite a drizzle, we figured that the rain might stop and there will still be a couple of rides in the amusement park that will be sheltered from the rain. When we got there, we realised that Luna Park was closing in about 45 minutes time at 4.00 p.m. We also could not plan to return the next day as its opening days were only on Friday – Monday. So we tried our best to fully maximise our visit to the amusement park.

I realised that there is a similar amusement park like this in Melbourne in St. Kilda’s, and we never really bothered to visit the place when we were there about 10 years back. Guess a lot of things change when you have an additional little person in your life. Park entry is free, but the cost of taking the rides were really pricey, about AUD$10 per ride if no special passes were purchased. But since being little has got its privileges, (K’s admission to many of our visits to the various places of interest has been FOC, since he is below 4 years old). we got a special pass for K that cost $20.00. We specifically chose rides that he could either take himself or were allowed an accompanying adult without an extra charge; i.e., the carousel.

Coincidentally, the carousel is also K’s favorite ride at most amusement parks that we visit. Besides the rain got a little heavier, so dh and I made our money’s worth by taking turns to ride the carousel with K. The little boy was so thrilled that he got to sit the ride for at least 4 times over. As there was only 20 minutes left before closing time, we braved the drizzle and ventured further into the park to search for another ride that will be suitable for K. Overall, I think we really made our money’s worth with all the rides that K took, it only averaged about $2.00 per ride. Plus, it is really quite nice to be the few customers left in the park with hardly any other people around to vie for the rides.

Featherdale Wildlife Park

Featherdale is one of the best wildlife parks that we have visited thus far, and the experience here was much better than Sydney Wildlife Park in Darling Harbour. The park had a vast variety of Australian animals, the tamer ones like the wallaby and kangaroos roamed about freely in their areas and they are so docile that we could actually pat them! K was so keen in patting the animals that he asked me if he could also touch the ones in their enclosure. He was all excited and co-operative until we met the ‘witching hour’ of 3 p.m. (not a good time, especially when he did not get his afternoon nap for the day) and started fussing till we got him an ice-cream to end his visit on a good note.

The Rocks

He fell fast asleep once we got back to the car and did not get up till an hour and a half later when we got back to The Rocks, north of Sydney city. As it started raining when we reach our next destination, dh had to brave the rain, ran to the nearest touristy shop to get an china-made umbrella that cost AUD$17.00! After spending so much for a lousy umbrella, we really regretted that we forgot to bring our own umbrella and K’s raincoat for this trip.

While waiting for the rain to stop, we went into a French bakery shop for some tea and hot chocolate. This was first time that K got to have a cup of hot chocolate by himself. Once the rain ended, we did the quintessential touristy thing of posing for photos at The Rock’s harbour, complete with the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background. As we were walking on the wharf on the way back to the car, K started fussing and dh told him that the wharf will open up and swallow him up if he continued to misbehave. K thought for a while and said, “No such thing.” Well, looks like tall tales such as this sort will not really work too well with him. Good attempt though, dh

The highlight of our trip to Sydney has to be the day that we visited a farm, wildlife park and The Rocks (again) all in a single day. Not that I was the cruel parent that wanted to maximise our vacation by cramming too many activities for a tot in one day. But rather, rest for K was much easier to be scheduled in, when we took long drives to visit attractions out of the city. Being that easy traveller, K often took his naps in the car during our long drives and was full of energy when we got to our destination.

Animal Farm Dural

The visit to the farm in Dural, that was about an hour drive outside the city, provided many firsts for Kyle. We have been reading so much about farms, but never really got to experience it first hand. I was really looking forward to visit Golden Ridge animal farm, as it was a first time at a farm for me as well.

Our visit to the farm was the first time that K…

From this visit to the farm, dh and I realised that K has no fear at all for many kinds of animals. Often, fear is a learnt response for a child, it does help that adults around him show no fear for the animals and the child will learn to embrace new experiences / interaction with new animals.

We were back on another Sydney beach in the afternoon, after dropping Nana and Grand-dad off at the airport for their flight back to Singapore. This time round we took a short drive from the airport to Manly beach, so as to visit the Manly Ocean world; another of Sydney’s attraction which features many Australian’s sea creatures. Instead of getting all enthusiastic about the sea creatures in the Ocean World, K much preferred playing with the sand on the beach. Once again, I was totally not prepared for K to swim so he only managed a 15 minutes play on the sand and was very disappointed when he had to leave. He was sobbing and insisted that we go back to Bondi beach right then. Dh and I discussed that we should visit Bondi Beach the next few days, before we returned to Singapore.

By then, K was feeling hungry and asking for a sandwich. We went for early dinner and settled with sandwiches and good but expensive fast food; Nandos, to fill our stomachs. K was feeling so tired after his meal that he fell asleep on the table. We were feeling a little guilty for wearing him out with the day’s activities and decided not to wake him up. He took a half an hour power nap and was all rearing to go afterwards.

Day 6

Finally, the day that Kyle has been looking forward since we got to Sydney arrived; the day that dh joined us for our Sydney vacation. After catching on some rest in the afternoon, we went to Darling Harbour to check out the restaurants for some western fare for dinner. We discovered this fantastic Italian restaurant with delicious fare at reasonable prices (according to Sydney’s standards), and ended going back there 3 more times for dinner for the rest of the days we were in Sydney.

Day 7

We were back to Darling Harbour the next morning to visit the Sydney Wildlife Park. An attraction located on the harbour, right next to the Sydney Aquarium that boasts a total of 130 Australian animal species all living in the recreations of the natural habitat.

K was was utterly thrilled that he was finally able to get to see the kangeroos, koalas and wombats. Animals that he has been asking to see since the start of our trip.

To experience the golden sand and turquoise water of Australia’s most famous beach, we headed to Bondi Beach, just about 8km from the city centre.

For K, it was his first time experiencing such fine sand. He enjoyed scooping up the sand with his hands, running it through his fingers and kicking it around. Probably if I had brought his swimwear, shovel and bucket along, he would have no qualms staying on the beach for hours. We had to gently coaxed him into leaving the beach, and he was only willing to leave when Uncle Nick told him that daddy will bring him back here again.

We made a day trip to Hunter Valley on Day 3. Hunter Valley is a popular destination for its wineries, fine food and scenic drives, about 2 hours drive away north of Sydney. This day trip was catered mostly for the adults as K did not really appreciate the fine food or the wine. The most encouraging thing though was that K is a great traveller and have no problems being in a car for a long drive. He was either taking short naps, singing his favorite repertoire of songs at the top of his voice or entertaining the adults with his comments throughout our road trip. From this trip I found out that one of the most effective way to keep K contented and to get him to pose for a photo (even in a grumpy mood) is to offer him a jellybean. His passion for jellybeans can rival his love for ice cream and I can get him to do almost anything, if he gets a jellybean in exchange. Our trip to the Hunter Valley will not be complete without a visit to the vineyard. The vineyards were not looking too lush at this particular time of the year as we were approaching the tail end of the harvest.

The sun was getting a little bit too hot that afternoon and we decided to take a respite by stopping by an air-conditioned cheese shop. Instead of getting some cheese, which Grand-dad decided that it might be too much after nights of rich dinners. We all got ice cream and ice lollies to cool off from the heat. K relished every bite of his ice cream and it got a bit too much for the little boy that was watching him enjoyed his ice cream. The latter refused to leave the shop until his parent got him the same ice cream that K was having. For K, it was the perfect way to end off any excursion for the afternoon.